L'Argent

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Dave S L'Argent was the perfect swan song for the great French auteur Robert Bresson – a sparse but powerful film rich in themes and consistent in style with the rest of his impressive oeuvre. Set in Paris, the passing of a counterfeit banknote leads to an unimaginably tragic and ultimately violent chain of events. It's really that simple. As always, Bresson pares things down to only the necessary. The dialogue is minimal, the film is unadorned by a music score, and there isn't a scene or a shot that is unnecessary. L'Argent is a reminder of how movies should be made and what cinematic art looks like in the hands of a master. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/27/23 Full Review Audience Member "L'Argent" is one of those films that builds slowly and steadily towards its final purpose, guarding its inner meaning very closely along the way. The best of Bresson's works feel strangely purifying due to a focused intensity inherent in the boldly detached approach to his actors' performances, and "L'Argent" achieves the same effect along a more notably morbid trajectory. We must be willing, in other words, to accept a less life-affirming vision than is typically characteristic of Bresson, opening ourselves up to an experience that may frighten as well as enrapture us. In truth, "L'Argent" can't stand up to Bresson's greatest works; at times, it feels a little too adrift, plodding stoically towards a resolution that hardly feels promising. What you will find, however, is that the ending leaves an impact that resonates in a stunning and thought-provoking way, reinforcing the general truism that a work by Bresson is far greater than the sum of its parts. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Based on the works of Leo Tolstoy... and it's French. I can watch and enjoy some foreign language films but I did not find much of anything to like about this one. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review s r 1001 movies to see before you die. This was very unusual and special. Well made and powerful themes. An interesting look at French jails to boot. Who knew they got wine for their dinners? Only in France. Saw on HBO. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review William L The parallels to Bresson's own Au hasard Balthazar are immediate right off the bat, following a single, seemingly insignificant object or character as it touches the lives of multiple characters, but the film lacks thematic and emotional depth to me; there is a focus on the pervasive nature of greed and its negative effects regardless of severity, but really that's it in terms of surface-level messaging - "greed exists and is bad". Diving slightly deeper, the film can be construed as providing evidence of an underlying Machiavellianism that would advise the viewer against any sort of charity, for it will only be taken advantage of, but this is hardly new territory for Bresson. The emotionless, unchanging faces of each character seems more pretentious than anything else, cementing a universality to the characters but little significance. Apparently, if you have some sort of semblance of honesty in Bresson's world, you'll end up like Anton Chigurh; these later scenes are the most distinctive and compelling of the film, but simultaneously the least justified. Unusual, but I can't call myself a diehard fan. (3/5) Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/02/21 Full Review Audience Member Bresson tells us a simple story with an extremely clean stream of wonderful shots. Master of cinema Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews

L'Argent

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